New Zealand has deployed a long-range patrol aircraft to monitor North Korea’s illicit ship-to-ship transfers in violation of U.N. Security Council (UNSC) sanctions, Japan’s foreign ministry announced on Friday.

In a press release, the ministry stated that a Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) P-8A Poseidon aircraft is operating out of Japan’s Kadena Air Base from early to mid-November, the eighth time the RNZAF has contributed to monitoring North Korea’s illegal maritime activities since 2018.

Tokyo welcomed New Zealand’s efforts toward ensuring the effective implementation of Security Council resolutions aimed at realizing the “complete, verifiable and irreversible” dismantlement of